Thievery
by DBZer16
Summary: AU. Intergalactic thieves working against the tyrant Frieza, Vegeta and Tarble are always causing trouble with their rag tag group of allies. But a mission goes wrong, and they are led to a familiar planet called Earth, where they are certain Frieza has set a trap for them...and they couldn't be more horribly right. VXB. GXCC.
1. Wanted

Disclaimer: Nope.

Thievery

"Come on!"

Red lights flashed in synch with the alarm and sirens that were alerting everyone on the base. The pair ran swiftly, ducking into corners and knocking guards out with skill.

However, it was too late for stealth and aptitude. They had taken things too far. They had been cocky and careless. He really hadn't thought about what he'd done until after the sickening thud.

Vegeta. Alongside him, his younger brother Tarble. Inseparable. Intergalactic thieves. The price on their heads amounted to well over 12 million quartzel. In case you're unfamiliar with interstellar currency, that's what qualifies as a shit load of money.

They were saiyans. Some of the last of their kind. Years ago, King Vegeta, their father, had thrown them into a single pod and sent them off before they knew what was happening. He'd left a message for them, explaining. The chip it was held on was carefully guarded by Tarble.

Frieza.

That name alone made him shake with rage. The lizard didn't even know who they were but they both loathed each other with a passion. It was simple. Frieza massacred their entire race. Vegeta and Tarble stole precious materials, information, weapons, whatever they could get their hands on, and sold them to powerful enemies of the tyrant.

It had been a routine raid. Break in, smash as many machines as possible, grab whatever new device was in development, leave in style (preferably with a dramatic explosion in the background). But there'd been a hitch in the plan. They had been expected.

Now, there was another crime stapled to their wanted posters. One that might turn those who left them alone (due to hatred of Frieza) against them.

Murder.

The lizard didn't know them for exactly who they were for a number of reasons. First, they had been kept a secret during their brief childhood on Vegeta-sei. Second, they hid their tails well. And while there were rather accurate rumors of their lineage, Frieza appeared to not take them very seriously. Thirdly, if Frieza did know them to be the princes of the almighty saiyan race, their bounty would have been at least triple of what it was at the moment. And lastly, he believed he'd already killed the saiyan prince. To him, it was just a freak accident that someone who looked exactly like him was causing so much trouble.

Moron.

Anyway, yes… Murder was now presently accounted for on their list of naughtiness they'd done. Of course, it'd only been some worthless scum – Cui, he'd said his name was. But Frieza would blow it out of proportion as propaganda to hunt them down to avenge the "poor defenseless soldier." Secretly though, many rooted for the brothers. They were black market celebrities. The underground public derived great pleasure at the expense of the tyrant's annoyed squirming, even when the rich who profited from the Planet Trade Organization wanted their heads mounted on a wall.

While Tarble and Vegeta were at the top of the wanted list, they had associates that none too far behind. Their little rag tag group consisted of Raditz, Bardock, Kakarot and Brolly. Bardock was the technical expert, piloting their ship and such. Raditz was more or less their negotiator. He'd find buyers for their stolen goods and find valuable allies. Brolly and Kakarot were extra muscle. They normally accompanied the raids, as did Raditz on some occasions, but this had seemed such a mediocre task that they deemed the two royals more than capable on their own. Which, they were. Just experiencing some minor setbacks.

Vegeta glanced over his shoulder to see the twenty or so soldiers giving chase gaining on them. He considered blasting them, but he had the hull of the ship and precious air to think about. "Faster, Tarble!"

The younger of the two nodded and hastened his pace. He kept looking back and forth, trying to find the right corridor. Tarble had a very useful ability. One glance at any map and he would know the entire layout by heart. He could crack any security code, solve any riddle that one of their informants liked to speak in, put any puzzle together, you name it. He was born to find solutions.

"Up ahead, Vegeta, left, the hangar!" They could already hear the telltale sounds of battle coming from within the large space. No doubt Kakarot and Brolly defending the ship while Bardock and Raditz prepared for takeoff. Skidding as they rounded the corner, Vegeta forced the door open and plowed through at least a dozen technicians.

Kakarot spotted them immediately. "There you are!" He threw another soldier aside and motioned for Brolly to break free as well. They met at the entrance to their round ship and sprinted up the ramp.

Inside, Bardock and Raditz were waiting for them. "About damn time!" He closed the hatch and fired up the engine. Brolly grinned as he leaned out the porthole and blasted a hole in the ceiling for them to escape through. He also melted the airlock, leaving the base to suffocate.

As they sped away, Bardock breathed a sigh of relief, setting the ship on autopilot after programming the right coordinates. Vegeta and Tarble dusted their clothes off, the adrenaline wearing off. Vegeta wore sturdy black combat boots, durable black cargo pants, and a black shirt with the crimson royal crest sewn into his left pectoral. Tarble wore the same shirt but in blue, with loose boots taken from one of Frieza's bases, and gray pants of the same style as Vegeta.

Bardock took a calming breath. He turned around in his chair and glared at the two very spiky-haired brothers in the center. "What. Happened?" Bardock was the father figure in their group, being the actual parent of Raditz and Kakarot. He showed them the ropes of life, and looked after them. They were a pack.

Vegeta snorted and blew his bangs from his face, only to have them fall into the same position. Bardock may be the one everybody looked up to and such, but he remained the undisputed leader, even at just barely eighteen. "They knew we were coming. They were prepared. I accidentally killed some worthless soldier and was caught. Frieza's going to blow it up for motivation or something."

He spoke very casually of this. While thievery was what they were most well known for, it was known that some of Frieza's most bloodthirsty, powerful, and cruel men would simply blink out of existence on occasion. Of course, he'd held no proof that it was them until now. Now it was a weapon.

Tarble walked over to the wall and slid down. He began tinkering with a small box lined with dull flashing lights and holes. What they'd come there for. There was a keypad on top, one that the youngest of the royal brothers was hacking away at. Within roughly twenty second or so, Bardock's lecture about caution was interrupted by a loud click and triumphant "Ah ha!"

Soon, all of the saiyans were gathered around the boy as he pressed a few more buttons and a hologram appeared. "What is it?" asked Raditz.

Bardock and Tarble looked at it for a while, reading the alien print the box projected. "A list," they announced in unison.

Vegeta crossed his arms. "Of what?"

"I don't know."

"Raditz," Vegeta barked. "Did our informant give any other details about this thing? I don't want to find out that we went to all of that trouble to get a list of the best ranking whores in that lizard's harem."

Rolling his eyes, the long-haired saiyan went to the computer console in the center of the room and scrolled though a bunch of files. "It seems to be a list of planets. They're all in free territory that hasn't been claimed by Frieza or Cooler. My guess is that the former was planning on taking them before his brother."

Kakarot shrugged. "Makes enough sense." He furrowed his brow as his lower lip protruded in a slight pout. "Well, what do we do with it?"

Vegeta frowned. "It can't just be a list. No one keeps just a stupid list under security like what we broke through. There has to be some sort of pattern to the order."

Tarble bit his lip. "I didn't see anything. The coordinates are random. They have almost nothing in common aside from being free. I don't think there is a pattern," the thirteen year old relented.

Vegeta mumbled, "There has to be…"

Raditz groaned. "Well, that was worthless. All of that trouble for something anyone with a computer can find out. We lost fuel, air, time, and we'll get no profit to replenish those losses whatsoever. Damn."

Always the financial expert.

Bardock began walking down the steps into the lower level. "It doesn't make sense, but we can figure it out later. Right now, it's time to eat."

Vegeta remained behind before closing the box and stuffing it in his pocket. "There has to be…"

…

He glanced at his brother for a moment before going back to deciphering the bizarre list. He was right. He knew he was. Reading it horizontally, yes, they were just planets listed with coordinates, but vertically…

It read differently. The words didn't make much sense, but they were something. He turned on his scouter and searched for information regarding the out of place terms. They were books. Short encyclopedias actually. He checked the list. One volume was missing from the list out of twenty. That was something.

He scanned the general status of that particular volume. It was printed in the year 624. It was the 12th volume. There were 215 pages total. It was about various plants on some backwater planet…

He had to figure out what this was about. Not only could it be very useful in the future, but his pride staked on it. They almost botched the mission entirely because he'd gotten arrogant. He had to prove that he'd accomplished _something_.

After hours of staring at brightly lit screens in the dark, softly cursing himself when he made an error and had to retrace his steps, he finally cracked the code. All that was left was to translate it.

In the small bed on the other side of the room, Tarble stirred as the ship's lighting cycle imitated dawn. He cracked a bleary eye open to see his brother barely awake, scribbling notes down on scratch paper as he sifted through the data displayed on his scouter and on the holograph. He wore nothing but sweat pants, exposing his bare scarred chest.

Those scars… Tarble shook his head. Bad memories were best left behind. Learned from, but best left behind.

"Vegeta? What are you doing? I told you, there's nothing there. Stop being paranoid," he groaned, burying his face into a pillow.

"You were wrong. There is something, we just couldn't see it at first." He scribbled more notes down.

Growling lightly, Tarble ripped the sheets off. Clad in merely sweat pants as well, he crossed the three foot distance between their beds and peered over his brother's shoulder. He squinted to read Vegeta's small, neat print, but when he began reading, his eyes widened. Ignoring Vegeta's exhausted snarl of protest, he snatched the papers out of his hands. "How did I miss this? Just reading vertically! I do that all of the time! Why didn't I see it?"

Vegeta grabbed the notes. "Well maybe if you would shut the hell up, I could see what "_it_" is." He wrote down a few more things before reading it himself. He flicked the light of their small room on and opened the cabinet right above his bed as he pulled a shirt out and yanked it over his head.

Tarble stared at him quizzically before he found himself being tugged by his wrist into the small hallway. Vegeta stopped and began pounding on the door to Bardock, Raditz, and Kakarot's shared quarters. "Wake up, morons!" He snarled when he heard lazy yawns and muffled moans of protest. He addressed Tarble. "Go wake up Brolly." He nodded and scurried off all but three yards to knock on the other saiyan's door.

When everyone was gathered in the kitchen, rubbing tired eyes and stifling yawns, Vegeta opened up the list once more and pulled the folded piece of paper he'd written the message on. "There was something to what we recovered. When deciphered, this list reads: Chikyuu." There was silence. "So I was right. Bardock, that's where you found Kakarot and this ship, isn't it? That means that there's someone down there with useful intelligence. Frieza means to strike there and if they have any capabilities at all, it's at least worth investigating. I would hate to think of what would happen if that freak got ships faster than ours along with weaponry. But, he knew we would get this, it's a message. That also means it could be a trap. Still, that planet hasn't been touched by the cold empire as far as I know. I think we should go."

The older man nodded. "I'll go set course for Earth."

"What?"

"Chikyuu's local name."

Vegeta sighed. He was exhausted. This had been the eleventh night in a row he'd had without sleep, though, the first with purpose. He was beginning to get dark circles under his eyes.

"Rest." Everyone looked up, slightly surprised that Brolly spoke. He had extreme selective mutism. It hadn't helped that his vocal cords had nearly been ripped out before Bardock found him. The scar was covered with a red scarf when he had to go outside of the ship. Almost anything he said was restrained by one-worded sentences. He only took time to speak if he thought what he had to say was important, so people usually listened to him.

Even Vegeta.

Nodding, he clamped a hand on his brother's bare shoulder before walking back to his shared room.

…

The ship had a total of three levels. The bottom contained their very small rooms, one bathroom, and kitchen. The top floor of the spherical craft held the main computer system and cockpit. The floor in between the two was the largest, and where six saiyans exercised during lengthy trips of more than three hours or so. There was a giant console in the middle that was the ship's propulsion system and center of balance. It also maintained standard gravity.

They avoided damaging that.

All of their rooms had just enough space for the number of beds needed and a shelving unit that acted as their closet directly above. There was one bathroom with multiple shower heads for at least three people since they didn't like to waste time taking turns. It was perfectly appropriate since there were glass dividers between each shower head. The latrine itself was walled off in the corner. The kitchen was very tiny with a stove, microwave, giant refrigerator, pantry cupboards, and a sink. They often ate in odd places throughout the ship.

As Vegeta had trudged through the short halls back to bed, Kakarot and Brolly had silently agreed to a spar. Raditz and Tarble were on breakfast duty.

There was always a desperate feeling to Kakarot's spars against Brolly. They were both close comrades – practically brothers having been born on the same day. But to him, it constantly felt like there was something off between them. Like Brolly was slipping and it was taking every ounce of willpower he had to stay grounded.

Not that he could blame him after what Paragus and Turles tried to do to him. Kakarot knew he looked almost exactly like his distant cousin, and it no doubt triggered painful memories for the other saiyan. Still, they'd been friends for a long time and they knew how to manage themselves if things got out of hand.

They came from a warrior race. Tempers ran short. Blood was expected to be spilt. It was how they communicated.

…

As the days went on, being trapped in the claustrophobic ship was starting to wear on everyone's nerves. Bardock came down to train one afternoon and found Raditz and Kakarot arguing over some petty thing, Brolly staring off into space, Tarble watching the fight between brothers with mild interest, and Vegeta was practically grinding his teeth with frustration. Yes, this sort of thing happened almost every time they had to get from point A to B and it took longer than three days or so.

The oldest saiyan sighed, pulled Raditz and Kakarot apart, told them they were being childish, shot Tarble a glare for not performing his usual duty as the peace keeper, told Vegeta he was going to crack a tooth if he kept it up, and snapped Brolly back into reality.

"We are all going to spar because verbal communication is apparently, an impossible and dangerous thing right now. One against all. Last one standing distributes chores for the remainder of the trip until we reach Earth."

The boys perked up at that. Within seconds they were sinking into their stances and eyeing one another. Bardock tightened the red bandana around his forehead, Kakarot and Raditz took their weighted clothes off, Tarble grinned, Vegeta cracked his knuckles, and Brolly removed his wrist bands. A few seconds passed then they all flew at each other simultaneously.

The rules were simple. Everyone contributed a little ki to a shield that surrounded the propulsion system and rounded wall of the ship. This allowed them to be able to synchronize their ki with one another, and it trained them to multitask in battle. The first four to get knocked out usually got the worst chores. The winner either helped whoever got second to last or did nothing at all on the terms that he had to fight the next group spar with no ki for the first two minutes.

Vegeta had a lot of practice with no ki.

It was usually the eldest prince, Brolly, and Kakarot that squared off last. Brolly was the strongest, but he didn't strategize his fights and thus lost often. Vegeta was the second strongest, but he was the more focused, tactical fighter, and so was the best warrior out of their pack. Kakarot, however, wasn't far behind the prince. Outside of battle, he was a clueless, but in, he was pretty much a machine and on par with Vegeta, but lost to him because he didn't think ahead or focus as much.

Still, between the three of them, it was a really close gap.

When all was said and done, Brolly and Kakarot ended up pitted against each other by Vegeta. They dealt critical damage and the prince handed them the final blow.

No chores for four days.

…

"What now, Lord Frieza?"

"It seems the monkeys cracked my code. How impressive."

"Sir?"

"Now, we wait, Zarbon. Let them relax."

"Relax?"

"Yes, relax. Especially one favorite prince of mine. I think he's been very tense."

"Of course, Sire," he agreed, still not understanding, but not wanting to be killed for questioning either.

The lizard swirled the wine in his hand. "Summon Dodoria. I want to know about these "hoi poi capsules" and Dr. Briefs. They could be very useful."

Zarbon grinned. "Right away."

_A/N: I had this idea for a while and thought it would be fun. There aren't enough stories with Raditz, Brolly, and Tarble (not being total psycho jerks or frolicking in flowers) so I thought I'd kill a few birds with one stone. Not that I don't like birds, it's just that they're annoying in the morning. Waking me up with their stupid happy chirps. The nerve!_

_Review with style!  
_


	2. Connections

"…And that leaves you with bathroom patrol, Kakarot." The collective groans that followed brought a smirk to the prince's lips. If they didn't want to do chores, they should have won the group spar. After all, he was born to dish out orders.

As they separated to do their tasks, Vegeta sauntered down to his shared room. Flicking the light under his shelf, he opened the cabinet and pulled out an old and worn book. He'd purchased it at a market place on some random trade planet a few weeks ago. Somehow, he hadn't gotten around to reading it yet.

Despite his best efforts, he was still tired from his latest streak of sleeplessness. He was surprised he'd won yesterday. It frustrated him that he'd had to rely on Kakarot and Brolly pounding each other into the ground before he could finish them, but the lazy tactic brought him victory, so he wasn't complaining too much. Still, he knew he would start backsliding if he didn't start resting properly soon.

It was a mildly interesting novel. But he was not extremely fluent with the language, and so he had to focus more on deciphering the letters than the content. Soon the words blurred together and he found himself nodding off.

…

_His vision faded in and he became aware of his surroundings. No longer was he on the tropical planet with his comrades, bartering and hackling their stolen goods. No. He was shackled to a sterile white ceiling, the cuffs blocking his access to his ki._

_There was a slow, deliberate tapping of feet, setting him on edge, making his muscles coil with tension. A white and purple lizard slowly came into view. He approached with a sadistic smile, and grabbed his chin with his cold hands._

"_So you're one of those little monkeys that have been causing me so much trouble," he drawled. His voice was sickeningly feminine. Like nails on a chalkboard. He jerked his head from Frieza's grip._

_He tried to get information out of him, and of course when he didn't talk…_

_His chest was suddenly on fire. He swallowed a surprised cry of pain and bit his lip. There was a snap of a whip, a crackle of electricity, and the sound of tearing flesh. When he could no longer see his skin through the blood, only white from his exposed ribs, the ceiling where the chains were attached rotated and the monster tore the rest of his shirt away to make his back bare to the force of the whippings._

_When he passed out, he was thrown in a rejuvenation chamber, and drugged. When he woke up, he would be in a different hell. _

_He was with Frieza for a week._

_Then it happened._

_The last time he woke up from the aesthetics that week, he was not in a torture chamber. He was in a room with a large overstuffed bed with purple linens. There was one large circular window overlooking the stars. And at the foot of the bed stood Frieza. It was then he realized that someone had robbed him of the tattered remains of his clothes._

_He was 12._

_He fought him, absolutely terrified as the lizard's tongue traveled across his neck. He scratched, punched, kicked, cursed and anything else he could think of in his panic to get was when the real part began that he stopped moving. He became lifeless. Detached. As though he were watching it happen to someone else. _

_When the lizard was done, he stared blankly at nothing. A bloodied, broken mess he was._

…

Raditz frowned as he looked at Tarble from the corner of his eye. He'd been distracted since Vegeta sent them to cook. He'd become used to his quirks and habits since they were often assigned to prepare meals being the only ones that could cook relatively well in comparison to the others (which still wasn't very good). He knew how he constantly worried for Vegeta. Especially since the "incident." It was probably for the best that he didn't know the extent of what had actually happened within those two weeks. Only he and his father knew that Vegeta had been _more_ than tortured, though he suspected Brolly had guessed as much too.

He knew that the royal brothers had a higher level of telepathic abilities than most saiyans. His father was the only one who rivaled them in that department, and that was because of a Kanassan during a purge years ago. Plus, that was used to more or less predict the future. Not communicate mentally. He'd gained control of it in recent years as well, so his visions didn't happen often.

Anyway, it was because of those abilities that they were practically inseparable. Vegeta may have been rough, sadistic, and callous on the exterior, but he had a soft spot for his little brother.

Raditz remembered the two hellish weeks when Vegeta disappeared. Tarble had barely been eight, but he had known something was terribly wrong with his sibling. Every few hours, he would collapse from the shared mental agony that wound its way through their link. He'd been near tears and beside himself with panic.

When Bardock finally managed to penetrate the army posing as a soldier, and recover Vegeta, Tarble had held onto him for hours. Far long after he'd regained consciousness.

He could relate slightly to the event, having felt the creeping blackness of total solitude when a technician reported the destruction of his planet and death of his people on his mission. There had been no words to describe the relief he'd felt when his father found him a couple days later, relaying the truth of what had happened.

To distract himself and offer Tarble some privacy from his gazes, he found an excuse in his hair. It kept getting in the way, and was making him uncomfortably hot next to the stove. Removing the red band from his wrist, he tied it back in a ponytail and flipped a dozen or so oddly colored fish on the giant skillet they used.

"Something's wrong," he heard him mumble. He pretended he hadn't heard. After a minute or so, the young teen dropped the spoon he'd been holding, and clutched his head, groaning with pain. Raditz quickly set everything down and kneeled next to him when his legs gave out on him.

"Tarble? C'mon, snap out of it, kid." He shook his shoulders lightly and helped him stand. He let go when the younger saiyan brushed his hands away and took off for his room. Raditz sighed. This wasn't the first time this had happened. At one point, it occurred almost every time Vegeta fell asleep, but things had started slowing down recently. What they didn't know was that it was because Vegeta had found out, and slept only when he honestly couldn't stay awake anymore.

…

_His surroundings changed, and he found himself running across a black and white checkered floor of marble. His footsteps and labored breathing echoed around him within the empty black void. A bright light appeared in front of him suddenly, and he had to shield his eyes. He passed through the light, and stepped into a white room. A door shut behind him, and he knew he was trapped. The walls started shrinking, leaking blood from the corners. Within seconds, the crimson liquid was up to his chest. He pressed up against the ceiling and took a final breath before being totally engulfed._

_Unable to breath, he started pounding his fists against the interior of his prison. He screamed with hopeless fury as it only shrank further, the pressure squeezing his head painfully. He barely had enough room to move as he continued to kick and punch as he felt his lungs burn. He couldn't see around him, but the claustrophobic box seemed to get smaller and smaller. Finally, he gathered his ki and let it explode around him. _

_The blood splattered all over the marble, almost glowing with luminescence. He was drenched with the metallic liquid, panting. He looked around, and several dark lumps appeared. They weren't moving. There was a high pitched laughter and as if by some invisible string, they were dragged through the puddle of blood and into the light where he could see them._

_Kakarot._

_Brolly._

_Raditz._

_Bardock._

_They stared blankly with death in their eyes. _

"_No. It's not real." But he could see it with such clarity. Such vividness. Such lucidity. There was no denying it. He felt a warm drop land on his head and he looked up. He immediately wished he hadn't. They were suspended by feather white cables that cut into their wrists, ankles, and necks._

"_Mother... Father... Tarble…" His voice died to a whisper as an unbearable grief washed over him. The laughing grew louder along with his pain._

_He gasped and looked down when he felt cold hands grab his legs. His companions looked up at him with hatred as their grips tightened._

"_Your fault."_

"_Powerless."_

"_Weak."_

"_Helpless."_

"_Your fault. Your fault. Your fault."_

_He clamped his hand over his ears and clenched his teeth as tears threatened to spill. Someone wrapped their arms around his shoulders in a loose hug, and forced him to lower his hands. To hear everything. They leaned next to his face, and whispered, "Your fault. Unworthy. Disgrace. Filthy."_

"_Tarble?" He choked, and salty wetness ran silently down his cheeks._

_Everything disappeared, and he was falling._

…

Tarble practically ripped their door open and slammed it shut behind. He still held one hand to his head as he dashed to his brother's side. The older boy took pained gasps of breath and his expression was one of torment. His fists were clenched and his tail was thrashing as he curled into a ball.

Tarble started shaking his shoulders and talking to wake him up. "Vegeta! Get up damn it! Please!" He cried out and fell backwards onto his bed as various images and feelings flashed across his mind's eye. There was blood. Frieza. Pain. Fear. Shame. And an unbelievable rage unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Vegeta shot up in bed, a short yell escaping him, followed by an 'Ow!' as his head left a small dent in the shelving unit. He was slick with sweat and trembling. He pushed the heels of his hands at his eyes and tugged his hair for a minute before releasing a shaky breath. The agony finally left Tarble as he crawled over and sat next to Vegeta before wrapping his arms around his torso and inhaling his scent.

Vegeta sighed as he let his tail unfurl from his waist and allowed his eyes to wander over the scars that marked his arms. He lay down, pulling his brother with him, and pulled him closer, barely noticing the discarded book on the floor.

He tried to remember better times, short lived as they were. He thought back to the days when he would curl up with his parents at night when the Royals gave in freely to the more primal instincts that demanded companionship. It was so vivid, he could practically smell his mother, feel his father's beard tickle him lightly whenever it brushed against his skin. Those were the happier times. How he longed for them once more.

How he longed for the happier times.

He felt Tarble release a heavy breath and looked down at him. His eyes were closed as he cuddled up to him. His childhood days would never return to him, but he had his younger brother, and a pack. That was enough to keep him sane.

He'd run into a number of species that deemed it inappropriate for boys (or girls for that matter) their age to be this "intimate" as they called it. For saiyans, it was normal behavior and a way of connecting. Tarble was displaying his unflinching loyalty and desire to comfort and protect. Vegeta was letting him know that the gesture was appreciated and reciprocated.

"We need to fix this," said Tarble. "You can't keep this up. It's bad for you."

He nodded. He had no idea what to do about the leak. "We'll find some way to seal it up."

He shook his head. "No, not that. I don't want you having nightmares anymore."

"Hn."

…

"Oh my Kami! Dad! What is this?" She pulled away from the telescope long enough for her father to take a look. He stroked his mustache in thought. After several agonizing minutes of 'hmm' and 'uh huh' and 'I see' he stood and smiled with traces of nostalgia.

"It seems an old friend is returning."

"Friend? You have an astronaut for a friend?" They stood in the middle of Capsule Corp.'s observatory. She had been doing some research for her, as she called it, "super-easy-space-class-where-they-think-they-know-more-than-me."

"No, dear. Oh, that's right. You were too young to remember. What were you? Four? Five?"

She stomped her foot. "Dad! Just tell me what's going on!"

"Well, you remember Mr. Gohan, don't you?" She nodded, recalling the old photos in her dad's photo album from way back when and the story of how a monster squished him to death. "I know what that monster was. It was actually a young boy. An infant, in fact."

She let her shoulders droop. "You expect me to believe that your martial artist friend from the old days was killed by a toddler?"

"Well yes. Why certainly," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

About an hour later, Bulma wandered into the kitchen to find her mother. Before she could be greeted with an "Oh hi sweetie pie! Are you hungry?" she held her hand up.

"Dad says his alien friends are coming for a visit, and that he's inviting them for dinner."

Mrs. Brief almost dropped her stirring spoon as her eyes actually opened. A huge grin spread across her face as she squealed with delight. "Oh my goodness! Really! Those strapping boys will be so hungry! Raditz and Kakarot will be so grown up! They eat a lot more than humans you know, dear. Oh my I'll have to go shopping! There's no possible way what we have in the refrigerator will be enough. And my…"

As her mother babbled on while writing a lengthy list, Bulma swallowed and decided to go up to her room and mull over the recent developments.

"Saiyans?"

…

_Dr. Brief landed the jet within a small clearing in the woods. He'd missed his old friend, Gohan, and decided to visit with him. Of course, the older man didn't know he was coming, not having a phone or anything and all. He capsulated the vehicle and began his short hike through the forest._

_His nostalgic grin faded, however, as he neared the familiar blue hut. The ground was torn up, trees knocked over and broken in two, the turnip grounds demolished… And in the center of it all, lay his old friend. He was squashed. He was dead._

_He rushed to the body, and crouched next to him. He was almost unrecognizable. "Oh no, Gohan…" Seeing his companion in such a state brought unbelievable sorrow and grief._

_He jerked up when he heard a soft crying in the distance. He knew that sound anywhere. That was the sound of a fussy, hungry baby. Gohan had no neighbors, so he found it strange. Slowly standing from the corpse after laying his jacket over his face, he wandered off in the direction of the crying._

_The next few minutes would change his life forever._

_He kept following the sound until he came to the edge of a ravine._

_Sure enough, there was a nude baby, just crying all alone. He was smudged with dirt and mud at the bottom. And very, very hungry. He picked the child up after climbing down, and he immediately began to thrash. He was stronger than most of the guys he'd rough housed with in his younger years. He had a bird's nest of hair, wild spikes protruding from his little head. Brief felt around until his fingers passed over a large bump on the child's head._

_Oh dear._

_A serious concussion. He could feel him growing limp. It was astounding he hadn't passed out already. Biting his lip, he started running for the clearing where he could pull out his jet and retrieve the first aid kit. He wrapped gauze around the boy's head and gently laid him down on an emergency blanket._

"_Oh dear. What on earth am I going to do?" He gazed down at the sleeping child."I suppose you'll have to come and live with me…"_

_A bright light suddenly zoomed past his head and disintegrated the tree behind him. "No, he will not, human."_

_He turned his head to see a man and a boy, the former with his hand outstretched and a bright blue luminescence fading from it. He looked exactly like the baby, or rather, the baby looked exactly like the man. "Do you know who he is?"_

_The man stepped forward from the trees, the deep scar on his cheek becoming visible. "That would be my son. Hand him to me now."_

"_I see. You two do look alike. And who is this young man? Your eldest child? And why did you call me human? Are you some type of alien? Do you have any idea what happened at my friend's dwelling? He was squished to death by something."_

"_Stop asking so many damned questions and give me the boy," the armor clad man demanded._

"_Of course, of course. But I can't help but be curious." He picked the baby up and offered him to the stranger. He couldn't help but notice how his eyes softened slightly at his child's touch, or how they widened with worry when they saw the bandages and felt the bump on his head._

_The man handed the infant to the boy at his side and growled. "What did you do to him?" He began to advance threateningly. No one was going to harm his cubs and get away with it. Saiyans, as the inventor would come to later comprehend, were incredibly protective._

_The scientist took a wary step back. "I found him at the bottom of the ravine over there," he explained while pointing in the direction he had come from. "He has a concussion, so a bandaged him."_

"_How do I know you're not lying?" He gathered ki in his hands._

"_Well, I have no motivation to." He stopped backpedaling, and assumed his calm and more natural aura. "And even if I were, I have a feeling it would be most hazardous to my health." The mystery man snorted, but lowered his hands and relaxed slightly. "May I ask your names? I am Dr. Briefs."_

_He seemed to consider him a moment longer before he crossed his arms. "I am Bardock, ranked third-class. My eldest is Raditz, and that is Kakarot."_

_He decided to not ask what "third-class" meant. "Where are you from?"_

"_Far away."_

"_Oh…" He rubbed his chin in thought before he remembered. "Oh dear…I'm afraid I have to go take care of something…"_

"_What?"_

"_My friend lived not too far from here. I came to visit, and I found him dead. He was crushed to death along with the turnip grounds." Bardock seemed to mull the information over._

"_Did this planet have a full moon last night?"_

"_Yes. Tell me, are you aliens?"_

_Bardock allowed his tail to unwind from his waist, as did Raditz as he gestured to his brother's tail that had gone unnoticed by the old man thus far. "You're the alien to us. If there was indeed a full moon, I believe Kakarot killed your companion."_

_The saiyans followed him back to the turnip grounds where Gohan's face was still covered with Briefs' lab coat. They assisted him with the burial. He invited them to CC for a meal after their stomachs growled._

_He learned that they were aliens, about the Oozaru transformation that killed his friend, their mission, what happened to their people, Frieza, and that they had ridiculous appetites. He built them a ship and wished them luck, knowing that they may never come back. He hoped they would though. _

…

Now they would be there within the next 24 hours.

_A/N: Hola! I don't really have anything to say about this one so…_

_Review! _


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